S.M. ✦ Gin & Juice

XI.

***warning: smut***

"Oh my God."

Caroline stared wide at you when you walked through your dorm room door. She was perched on the edge of her ballet pink covered bed with a small hand mirror applying a final coat of lipgloss before leaving for her morning class.

"You had sex last night," she gawked; "you had sex last night with Shawn fucking Mendes." She tossed the mirror aside and flopped onto her stomach, waving her feet in the air like a toddler ready for storytime. "Fuck class, tell me everything."

You dipped your head, feeling the blood rush up your neck to your face, embarrassed that it was so obvious. You knew you felt it, like something was different, but it wasn't so much about the sex itself. It was the weight of it, the heaviness of the moment that made you feel so light. The barrier that had broken between the two of you, the remaining metal shards of his shattered armor now lodged in your chest, felt like the last conquered obstacle between you and the boy beneath. The boy you thought you might be, could be, falling in love with.

Caroline cleared her throat, pulling you from your thoughts, "unless you don't want to tell me." She made a pouty face. For all her You rolled your eyes, clearly surrendering to her plea for girl talk. Dropping your bag near your desk, you hopped up on your bed and fixed her with a serious stare, "okay, you get three questions. Choose wisely. Under no circumstances will I tell you anything about his anatomy."

"EEEEEP, okay, okay," she clapped her hands like a toddler, "what did you do for your date?" You breathed a sigh of relief, only two more questions. Hopefully she'd stay away from the personal things that you didn't even think you could answer, things you still needed to process yourself. Like how you felt about Shawn. So, you described the earlier part of the evening, in painstaking detail, hoping it would distract her. You told her about him ordering too much sushi, about him not knowing anything about literature, about your bargain to run so he would read a novel, about him watching Romeo + Juliet with you and not paying attention at all, choosing instead to watch you watch the movie until he invited you into his arms.

"Girl, I don't know how you did it," Caroline said, her attention rapt, "I would have mauled him." You grinned at her, picking at the seams on your white comforter. Narrowing her eyes, she sat up and leaned forward, almost pitching herself off her bed, "what? What aren't you saying?"

"Well, I kind of did maul him," you laughed, internally cheering at your ability to trip her up, "also, that was your second question." You giggled at her horrified expression, glad that she only had one more question left. Caroline sat there dumbfounded for a little bit longer, contemplating her next move.

"Wow," Caroline forfeited, "that was low, but good. I'm impressed." She brought her fist to her chin, thinking hard about her final question. Suddenly, her eyes softened and she reached over, grabbing your hand and creating a bridge between your two beds, "was he gentle?"

Tears welled up in your eyes. You knew that Caroline cared about you, that she knew more about you than she let on, that she watched you when she thought you didn't see, but it was such a tender question. Especially given she could have asked anything else about him.

"Yeah," you smiled at the memory of him holding you in his arms all night long, "he was." She nodded and smiled back at you, giving your hand an extra squeeze, "good, because if he hurt you, I'd be out for fucking blood."

Bzz. Bzz.

An incoming text on Caroline's phone cut your moment short. She picked it up, rolling her eyes and grinning, hammering out a reply, "it's my friend Naomi. She wants me to meet her for lunch. I better run."